Rockwell Group Unveils The Hand & The Eye
Rockwell Group unveils The Hand & The Eye, reigniting the golden age of Chicago-style magic through design, dining and live performance.
There is an inherent magic to a building with many lives.
In Chicago, the historic L. Hamilton McCormick Mansion has been a private residence, a restaurant, an entertainment venue and even home to a grand opera puppet theatre. Now, more than a century after it was built, the Renaissance Revival-style landmark enters its latest chapter as The Hand & The Eye — an immersive destination dedicated to close-up magic, elevated hospitality and the pleasure of experiencing something extraordinary in real time.
Founded by Glen Tullman and transformed by New York-based architecture and interior design studio Rockwell Group, the 36,000-square-foot venue unfolds across five floors as a carefully choreographed sequence of lounges, theatres, bars and dining rooms.
The premise is wonderfully analogue. At a moment when so much of life takes place through a screen, The Hand & The Eye is designed around human presence: magicians performing at close range, guests gathering over cocktails and dinner, and architecture becoming an active participant in an evening of discovery.
An evening here brings together magicians from around the world performing intimate shows with a Gilded Era dining experience, all set against a custom backdrop curated to celebrate the legacy of magic.
“We wanted to tap into Chicago’s rich history of performance and innovative architecture. By layering the past and present, our design creates an experience that brings people together to share moments of wonder that can only happen in real time.”
David Rockwell, Founder and President, Rockwell Group
A HOUSE OF MANY LIVES
Originally built in the 1890s as the private residence of industrialist Leander McCormick and his wife, Constance, the mansion carries its history visibly.
Rather than erase those layers, Rockwell Group’s intervention preserves and celebrates them, introducing contemporary storytelling and craftsmanship while allowing the character of the original building to remain present.
An ornate carved staircase has been carefully preserved in the Grand Salon. Elsewhere, thick masonry walls survive from the original mansion. These architectural traces become part of the experience, lending the interiors the sense of authenticity and accumulation associated with a grand residence evolved over generations.
Each room has its own character and mood, yet the material palette and preserved historic details establish a sense of progression through the house. The result is less a collection of individual interiors than a journey — one deliberately designed so that multiple moments can unfold simultaneously and no two visits need feel quite the same.
THE GRAND ARRIVAL
The experience begins with ceremony.
Guests enter through a richly layered reception space inspired by the arrival sequence of a historic residence. Ornate wallcovering, inset panelling, antique mirrors and warm lighting immediately establish the visual language of the rooms beyond: opulent without becoming static, historic in spirit yet conceived as a setting for contemporary performance.
Adjacent, the Grand Salon shifts the scale towards something more residential. Deep green walls provide a saturated backdrop to hand-tufted rugs, marble tables and curved velvet seating, creating an animated setting for conversation and gathering.
It is here that Rockwell Group’s approach becomes particularly apparent. Hospitality and theatre are not treated as separate ideas. Instead, atmosphere becomes a form of stagecraft.
SETTING THE STAGE
On the first floor, the Monarch Theatre looks to another chapter in the mansion’s history: its original 1930s puppet theatre.
Blue velvet wall panels establish a sumptuous theatrical envelope, embellished with hand-stitched beaded pearls and embroidered accent jewels. Luminous round sconces punctuate the walls in a rhythmic procession towards the stage.
The detailing turns the act of entering the theatre into part of the performance itself.
Elsewhere, the intimate Red Herring bar reduces the distance between performer and audience even further. Designed as a setting for close-up magic, it places guests in direct conversation with magicians, reinforcing the central idea behind The Hand & The Eye: surprise is most powerful when it happens directly in front of you.
AN EVENING UNFOLDS
Ascending to the second floor reveals another shift in mood.
The Hourglass bar provides a dramatic setting for pre-dinner cocktails, while the Members Dining Room introduces a more elegant register through bespoke wallcoverings, reflective surfaces and a grand piano.
Here, dining becomes another chapter in the evening’s carefully constructed narrative rather than an interlude between performances.
More intimate spaces follow. Room 36 and The Chamber, both drawing inspiration from legendary close-up magicians, provide settings for private performances and gatherings.
The changing scales are key to the experience. Grand rooms give way to enclosed spaces; convivial lounges transition into performance settings. Each threshold offers the possibility of another reveal.
THE FINAL ACT
On the lower level, the journey reaches the Vault.
Tiered seating faces a backdrop composed of vintage security boxes and keys, creating a setting deliberately distinct from the rooms above. It is here that guests experience the final show of the evening.
The adjoining Vault Bar becomes a final meeting point between hospitality and performance — the two ideas that have been woven through the building from the moment of arrival.
Across all five floors, architecture is never simply scenery.
Drawing on Rockwell Group’s longstanding expertise in theatre, hospitality and experiential design, The Hand & The Eye uses interiors to establish rhythm, anticipation, intimacy and spectacle. Historic fabric sits alongside bespoke decorative detail. Residential references meet theatrical flourishes. And spaces are conceived not merely to be observed, but experienced.
The result is a contemporary destination rooted in the mansion’s past and Chicago’s legacy of magic.
In an increasingly digital world, its greatest illusion may also be its simplest proposition: bringing people into the same room and creating a moment of wonder that exists only while they are there.
THE HAND & THE EYE
Chicago, Illinois
Architecture and interior design: Rockwell Group
Founder: Glen Tullman
36,000 square feet | Five storeys
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